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There are so many good movie soundtracks. After I saw The Great Gatsby, it got me thinking of my favorites.

When I started this list, I thought, I’ll only be able to think of 5 to 10 that’s it. Then I started to look through my dvd collection and old cd’s and it became 15. Then I made the mistake of looking at other people’s lists and realized that I’d forgotten one that was better than 10 of the ones on my list and it became 18. Honestly, I could probably make a list of 50, but I won’t bore you all with that.

If you are a music fan, you should check out my buddy’s blog over at RARA’s Farm.

So here are my top 10 favorite movie soundtracks

10. Saturday Night Fever

The title song from this movie was the number one song the year I was born, 1978, so I feel that this needs to be on my list. The thing about older soundtracks like this is that, a lot of times, they prominantly featured one artist or group. In this case, it’s the Bee Gee’s in all their chest hair glory. If you don’t strut like John Travolta did in the beginning of that movie when Stayin’ Alive plays, there is something wrong with you!

9. Garden State

I actually don’t own this soundtrack or movie, but right after it came out I bought The Shins album, Oh, Inverted World, since they are prominently featured on this soundtrack. Zach Braff, who also wrote, directed and starred in this movie, put together the soundtrack and won a Grammy for the compilation.

8. Dazed and Confused

What a great 90’s movie. What, it was set in the 70’s you say?! But it was such a great reflection of my high school years! And the soundtrack! I rediscovered 70’s rock with this movie. I’d always been a classic rock fan, but this made me remember. Cherry Bomb, School’s Out and Slow Rider are some of the great ones on this one and I love every song on this album!

7. Flashdance

I love this soundtrack, a lot of these songs have gotten me through many workouts. The two popular songs from this are also my favorites in this case, Maniac and What a Feeling. I would include this album for these two songs alone! But each song that was picked moves the movie along. And maybe I have a soft spot for this since this movie is set in Pittsburgh.

6. Grease

This is the one and only musical to make my list. Another John Travolta movie! When I was little, and my childhood friends can attest to this, I would watch this movie on repeat, at least once a month probably from about 8 to 12 years of age. I knew every song, every dance move and every line of dialogue. Heck, I bet if I put it on right now I could act out the whole thing with them. That’s probably because I still LOVE to watch this movie for it’s music. I can’t pick a favorite song because I love them all. I suppose if I had to though, it would be a tie between You’re The One That I Want and Summer Nights. Don’t make me pick between the two.

8. Romeo and Juliet

So many good songs by bands that ruled my radio in the mid-nineties, Garbage, The Cardigans, Everclear, Radiohead… I love this soundtrack, the theme song from the movie, Kissing You, is a slow, heart wrenching song that features just a voice and a piano. It just tears at the heartstrings. Then you jump into Lovefool, a song that was WAY over-played after this movie came out but that I loved anyway and Young Hearts, Run Free. I can almost remember each scene that these songs accompanied.

4. Pulp Fiction

I think I spent the entire summer of 1995 with this cd in constant rotation in my car. Son of a Preacher Man was my favorite at the time and still is my favorite on here, mostly because of the memories it brings. Ahh, to be 16 again. Urge Overkill’s version of Girl, You’ll be a Woman Soon is amazing and you can never go wrong with Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang. And I just realized that this is the third John Travolta movie to make this list.

3. Dirty Dancing

Yet another movie that is from my childhood. If I wasn’t watching Grease you can bet I was watching this (or Adventures in Babysitting). I could also quote this whole movie and honestly thought that I would have a summer like this in the NY Catskills someday. I can honestly say that I love every song on this, it’s a bunch of oldies (my oldies, things from the 60’s) mixed in with some newer original songs. Time of My Life, Hungry Eyes, Love is Strange and You Don’t Own me are probably my favorites, but I sincerely love all the songs on this one. I even like the Patrick Swayze song She’s Like the Wind. What a great movie and soundtrack.

2. Footloose

And here we have another one that I love every song from. I definitely have my favorites, three of the songs from this album are currently on my workout list because I was in a Footloose mood last week. Let’s Hear It for the Boy, Holding Out For a Hero and Dancing in the Sheets are on current rotation, but the title song from this is also fantastic. I dare you to hear the song Footloose and not want to dance or at least tap your foot. It’s impossible. And Kevin Bacon had the moves back in the day.

1. Singles

Here it is, my number one choice. This is personal for me, I can credit this movie and soundtrack for introducing me to the Seattle grunge scene. If I had been 18 in 1992 when this movie came out, I would have been inspired to move to Seattle just to be a part of this crowd. This features Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees just to name a few. If Nirvana had made it’s way onto this album, it would have literally been every band that shaped my music listening preferences. Given that Cameron Crowe was in front of this movie, writing and directing, I’m not shocked that this amazing soundtrack was put together. The man is a music lover who got is start writing at Rolling Stone. As soon as I decided to put this list together, I knew this would be my number one and I’ve been listening to it for the last week now, I forgot how much I loved my 90’s rock.

I thought of a lot more soundtracks that I really like, but they just couldn’t make the top 10. Trainspotting was on the top 10 list then moved off, then back and then off again. I really like the soundtrack, but I will stick with the ones on my list (for now). Some other great ones are A Hard Day’s Night, Purple Rain, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, The Graduate and The Big Chill.

This was harder to complete than I originally thought it would be, but absolutely worth the work. It made me go back to some favorite songs and movies that I hadn’t thought of for a while.